Cleat cleaner



Aug. 13, 1963 Filed March 23, 1962 W. H. WILLIAMS CLEAT CLEANER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 m MI :7

INVENTOR MAL/AM H. W/LL/AMS ATTORNEY 5 Aug. 13, 1963 w. H. WILLIAMS CLEAT CLEANER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 23, 1962 INVENTOR W/LL/AM/iW/LL/AMJ BY M ATTORNEYS 3,100,312 CLEAT CLEANER William H. Williams, 704 Hobbs Drive, Silver Spring, Md. Filed Mar. 23, 1962, Ser. No. 182,066 2 Claims. (Cl. 15-215 This invention relates to a device for cleaning cleats on athletic shoes and relates more particularly to a mat having a plurality of projections fixed to its upper surface for removing mud or the like from around and between the cleats of an athletic shoe.

Shoes with spiked cleats are commonly used in many sports because the players require stability and surefootedness. In golf and baseball the cleated shoes enable the player to maintain a correct stance and provide the support necessary for the accuracy and power used in hitting the ball. Other athletes, such as football and soccer players, must be able to stop suddenly and change direction quickly, and cleated shoes are necessary for such dexterity.

Cleated shoes are only effective in providing surefootedness if the cleats are free to dig into the dirt or other soft surface on which the sport is played. Dificulty is encountered when the dirt cakes about and between the cleats. When this occurs the cleats cannot function to adequately dig into the playing surface and the player Will be almost as poorly equipped as if he were wearing smooth-soled shoes or sneakers. Cleats have a speciall tendency towards becoming less eliicient when the ground is wet, sincemud has a great tendency to cling. Many athletic courses are continuously watered for maintenance purposes and many sports are played regardless of the. weather, so mud is often found to be present on and around playing fields.

The loss of stability caused by mud, dirt, and other foreign material clinging around and between cleats on athletic shoes leads to loss of power and accuracy and is the reason for many slips and falls which oftentimes cause injury to the player. lem by tapping their shoes with a baseball hat, a golf club, or some other handy implement. This expedient rarely effects good cleaning, especially when mud or a sticky clay is caked on the shoes, and such a procedure, can be damaging to the players equipment. devices such as brushes or scrapers have been used but it is ditncult to adequately clean with such means unless the player removes his shoes, a procedure which is obviously impractical in most sports.

Athletes try to overcome this prob- Small hand It is an object of this inventionto provide a cleat cleaner free from the foregoing and other disadvantages.

It is a further object of the instant invention to provide a device which will effectively clean dirt, mud or other foreign material from between and around cleats, spikes or other projections on the bottom of athletic shoes and the like.

A further object of this invention is to provide a mat which may be placed at convenient locations around an athletic field or course so that players may quickly and effectively free the cleats on their shoes from foreign material clinging thereto.

Another object of the instant invention is the provision of a mat having a plurality of projections with various novel shapes designed to cut into and scrape dirt or mudfrom around and bet-ween cleats on the sole of an athletic plastic.

3,100,312 Patented Aug. 13, 1963 2-2 in FIGURE l in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 3 is a plan view of a portion of a further embodiment of a cleat cleaner;

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view on line 44 in FIGURE 3 in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 5 is a plan view of a portion of another embodiment of a cleat cleaner in accordance with this invention;

FIGURE 6 is a partial cross-sectional view on line 6-6 of FIGURE 5 in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 7 is a plan view of a portion of a further embodiment of the cleat cleaner of the instant invention;

FIGURE 8 is a side view of the embodiment of FIG- URE 7 on line 88 in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 9 is a side view of a modification of the cleat cleaner in accordance with the instant invention;

FIGURE 10 is a plan view of a portion of a cleat cleaner showing one of the projections according to another embodiment of this invention, partly in section;

FIGURE 11 is a side view, partly in section, of the embodiment of FIGURE 10.

Like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

Referring now to the drawings for a detailed description 'of the instant invention, and particularly to FIGURES 1 and 2, reference numeral 2 designates a mat having a lower surface 4 and an upper surface 6. Fixed to the upper surface 6 are a plurality of upwardly extending projections 8. In the embodiment of FIGURES l and 2, each of the projections 8 is in the form of a solid rightpyramid having four inwardly and upwardly sloping sides 10 and a V-shaped gouge or groove 11 cut into the top thereof. The projections 8 are placed on the mat 2 in staggered relationship, as will be clearly seen from FIGURE 1. The space 12 between individual projections depends on the particular sport for which the cleat cleaner is to be adapted and will be approximately equal to the diameter of the cleats used. The height 13 of the projections 8 will likewise depend on the size of the cleats used in the particular sport and will vary from slightly less to slightly in excess of the overall height of the cleat. The projections 8 can be made of any of a variety of materials such as metal, hard rubber, a relatively rigid plastic material, or metal chips dispersed in rubber or It is preferable to make the projections 8 of a relatively rigid, but slightly flexible material which will act to scrape the sides of the cleats and the sole of the shoe between the cleats. If the projections 8 are flexible it is advantageous to have their height 13 slightly longer than the cleats on the shoes to be cleaned so that the V-shaped gouge 11 can act to scrape the shoe sole. If a rigid material such as metal is used, the height 13 of the projections 8 must be slightly shorter or equal to the height of the cleats in order not to hurt the foot of the wearer. Apertures 14 may be provided in the mat 2 to allow suitable nails or the like to be inserted therethrough to hold the mat 2 stationary with respect to the ground. A chamfer 20 may be provided around the periphery of the mat 2 for safety reasons.

The cleat cleaner described above is placed at various convenient locations around the athletic field or course such as by each tee on a golf course, by home plate on a baseball field, or on the sidelines of a football field or soccer field. The player utilizes the cleat cleaner by scraping his shoes over the surface of the mat so that the projections 8 nub against the sides of the cleats and the sole of the shoe between the cleats.

Various modifications of the above concept can be mat.

3 I made forspecial applications or particular efiects. FIG- URES 3 and 4 show an embodiment having a plurality of elongated conical projections 22 fixed to the mat 2. The

projections 22 are slightly flexible and act like a brush to clean the cleats when the shoes are scraped over the Another (feature of this mat is the lower surface 24 which is roughened in order to prevent the mat from slipping in use. This expedient can be relied on by itself :or used in conjunction with nail-receiving apertures such as 14 shown in the embodiment of FIGURES 1 and 2.

=In FIGURES to 8, a cleat cleaner is shown having projections 26 with a pluarilty of flexible vanes 28 extending outwardly therefrom which act to scrape the surface of a dent being passed between the projections. The number :of vanes 28 and their dimensions and placement on the projections 26 may be varied. In FIGURES 5 and 6;the projections 26 are in the shape of a frustum of a right-pyramid and have :four flexible vanes 28, each shorter than the height 29 of the projections 26. Altermate vanes 28 in this embodiment are in spaced vertical planes to insure scraping action along the dull length of the cleat. FIGURES 7 and 8 show flexible vanes 28' which run the full length of the projections 26 and taper from the bottom to the top. The projections 26 may be fixed to the mat 2 by integrally molding a central supporting member 30 made of metal or. some other rigid material inside a flexible outer material 32. :Nails 34 orlthe like canalso be integrally molded into the mat 2 so that their pointed ends 36 will project from thebottom surface thereof. This will maintain the cleat cleaner stationary by merely pressing it to rthe ground. An upstanding side wall 38 may also be provided around the periphery of the mat 2 to prevent accidental stepping on the projections 26, especially if an internal rigid supporting member such as 30 is centrally located in each projection. The height of the side wall 38 will be prefera bly approximately equal to theiheight 29 of the projections 26. Only thy purposely stepping down into the cleat cleaner over the side wall 38 will anyone come into contact with the projections 26.

Each of the projections may be equal in height and perpendicular to the mat 2 as in the above-described embodiments, or the axis 40 of each projection 42 may he slanted as shown in FIGURE 9.. With such an arrang surfaces and a coating of flexible material 52 extending outwardly therefrom to form flexible vanes 54.

The player'steps straight down on a cleat cleaner of this design and the cutting edges act in the manner of a cookie cutter to out the mud from between and around the cleats and hold the same in the cavity 56 after the hollow and taper from the bottom to the top to allow the dirt to fall into the cavity 56 \between the walls 48. The mat 2 may he cut throughbeneath each projection, as shown at 58, so that, on picking up the cleat cleaner, the accumulated dirt and mud willbe easily removed from the device. Any conventional manner of fixing the projections 46 to the mat 2 and the coating 52 to the walls 48 may :be employed. For example, the mat 2 and the coating 52 may be integrally molded around the walls 48, or the coating 52 could he fixed to the walls 48 in the form of a laminate by an adhesive material.

It is to he understood that many of the novel features shown above with regard to particular embodiments are applicable to any of the embodiments disclosed. For example, any of the mats 2 may have nail receiving holes such as shown at 14 in FIGURES 1 and 2, a rough lower surface such as 24 in FIGURE 4, or partially embedded nails such as 34 in FIGURES 5 and 6. Moreover, the concept of having a central supporting member such as 30 in FIGURE 6, or slanted projections of different lengths such as shown in FIGURE 9, could easily be applied to [the other disclosed embodiments. Similarly, the hollow cutting projections 46 of FIGURES 10 and 11 could have shorter staggered flexible vanes such as those shown at 28 in FIGURES 5 and 6, or no vanes at all.

It is to be understood that the foregoing detailed description is given merely by -way of illustration and that many variations may be made therein without departing from the spirit of this invention as set forth in the claims.

What is hereby claimed and is desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A cleat cleaner comprising a mat having an upper and a lower surface, a plurality of projections fixed to said upper surface, each projection having a central axis, a top in a plane remote from said mat and a bottom adjacent the upper seurface of said mat, said projections being spaced on said mat in staggered relationship to each other, the central axis of each projection being perpendicular to said malt and each of said projections having a plurality of outwardly directed flexible vane members evenly spaced around said central axis.

2. A cleat cleaner in accordance with claim 1, where in said vane members extend the full length of each of said projections, and said vane members progressively decrease in width from the bottom to the top of said projections.

shoe is removed trom the device. 'I he flexible vanes 54 will assist in brushing dirt and mudtfirom the surfaces of the cleats while the shoe is moved back and forth after first stepping onto the mat. The projections 46 are References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 378,369 Hyer Feb. 21, 1888 871,121 DHumy Nov. 19, 1907 1,032,740 Clark July 16, 1912 1,401,788 Kelleher Dec. 27, 1921 2,604,377 Ea-mes July 22, 1952 2,667,654 Peterson Feb. 2, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 266,082 Great Britain Feb. 24, 1927 421,835 Great Britain Ian. I, 1935 800,030 Germany Aug. 11, 1950 988,149 1 France Apr. 25, 1951 1,211,755 France Oct. 12, 1959 

1. A CLEAT CLEANER COMPRISING A MAT HAVING AN UPPER AND A LOWER SURFACE, A PLURALITY OF PROJECTIONS FIXED TO SAID UPPER SURFACE, EACH PROJECTION HAVING A CENTRAL AXIS, A TOP IN A PLANE REMOTE FROM SAID MAT AND A BOTTOM ADJACENT THE UPPER SEURFACE OF SAID MAT, SAID PROJECTIONS BEING SPACED ON SAID MAT IN STAGGERED RELATIONSHIP TO EACH OTHER, THE CENTRAL AXIS OF EACH PROJECTION BEING PERPENDICULAR TO SAID MAT AND EACH OF SAID PROJECTIONS HAVING A PLURALITY OF OUTWARDLY DIRECTED FLEXIBLE VANE MEMBERS EVENLY SPACED AROUND SAID CENTRAL AXIS. 